This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Axle assemblies for vehicles include various structural elements in order to provide connection points for wheels, suspension and other chassis systems. The structural elements may include elements that are oriented transversely across a width of a vehicle. Such transversely oriented structural elements often require dedicated and expensive tooling to produce the complex shapes and sizes of such structural elements to deliver the loading, packaging and durability requirements of a vehicle to which it is attached. The unique designs of axle assemblies and the associated dedicated tooling make adjustments, tuning and scaling of the design difficult to complete quickly and inexpensively.